"The longer-term mineral-supplemented diet leads to not only increases in bone mass and strength, but the ability to maintain those increases even after detraining," said David Kohn, Professor at University of Michigan in the US.

The second important finding is that the diet alone has beneficial effects on bone, even without exercising.

"The data suggests the long-term consumption of the mineral-supplemented diet could be beneficial in preventing the loss of bone and strength with age, even if you don't do exercise training," Kohn said.

While most studies look at effects of increasing dietary calcium, the new study, published in the journal PLOS One, looked at effects of increased dietary calcium and phosphorous, and found benefits to increasing both.